Ubiquinone-5 is reduced by superoxide in the aerobic state by NADPH oxidase of guinea pig macrophages.

The reduction of ubiquinone-5 (Q1) by the phagocytosis-specific NADPH oxidase of guinea pig macrophages was not inhibited by superoxide dismutase (SOD) at concentrations usually used for O2- assay but was inhibited at about 100-times higher concentrations. Titration of the reaction with SOD and a comparison with that of xanthine oxidase showed that the inhibition was not due to the semiquinone oxidation accelerated by a removal of O2- but due to the accelerated dismutation of O2- which otherwise reduces the quinone. Molecular oxygens are therefore preferential electron acceptors in the NADPH oxidase even in the presence of Q1.